Calendar stand



' Nov. 6, 1956 c. A. LAUGHLIN CALENDAR STAND Filed Jan. 20, 1954 b-AMY' Awa /v2 Arm/aw United States Patent CALENDAR v STAND Clayton A. Laughliu, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to Northwest Plastics, Inc., St. Paul, 'Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application January 20, 1954, Serial No. 405,089

1 Claim. (Cl. 40-120) This invention relates to devices useful for holding printed or pictorial matter in upright position on a horizontal surface so that said printed or pictorial matter Will be easily visible. More particularly, this invention relates to calendar stands of the kind which are customarily placed on a desk or table top.

The business of manufacturing calendar stands, and distribution of the same as advertisements, has grown enormously in recent years. Improved techniques in the plastic molding industry have made possible the manufacture of such calendars in large quantities at relatively low cost so that such items may economically be purchased by business houses for free distribution to their clientele as a trade reminder.

One of the problems which has heretofore existed in the manufacture of plastic desk calendar stands is the problem of providing a connection between the back of the calendar stand itself and the prop member used to maintain said stand in upright position. It is not feasible, for many reasons, merely to mold such stands with a rearwardly projecting prop member as an integral part of the stand. Such practice, among other things, would complicate the packaging and mailing of the stands to a considerable degree and thus undesirably raise the ultimate cost of the items.

Numerous expedients have previously been adopted to provide a workable, low cost calendar stand and prop assembly, but, to the best of my knowledge, the problems exlstmg therein have not heretofore been satisfactorily disposed of.

In the stand of the present invention, on the other hand, there is provided a prop and stand assembly of construction which can be molded in large quantity, and at relatively low cost. The design is simple and easily moldable on standard plastic molding machinery. The design, furthermore, is suificiently sturdy so that it will not likely be broken in shipment or use. The present invention provides the further advantage (as contrasted with many prior calendar stands) that the prop member can be mounted on the stand itself prior to distribution, and very easily pivoted to propping position by the recipient of the item. The necessity, which formerly existed, of packaging two separate items to be assembled by the user has therefore been eliminated.

Referring now to the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the calendar stand.

Figure 2 is a rear elevational view of the stand.

Figure 3 is a horizontal cross-sectional view along line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view along the line 44 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a side elevational view.

Referring now to the drawings in more detail, reference character 2 indicates a rigid, planar member upon the front face of which the calendar pad (not shown) is carried. Member 2 may be of any ornamental configuration, and may, if desired, be provided with a decorative filigree design 3 at its marginal side portions. Lower 2 area 4 of the front face of member 2 is recessed sufliciently so that a calendar pad (twelve monthly pages) may be laid therein flush with the upper and side areas of member 2. Said calendar pad is mounted in area 4 by supports 5, which pierce said pad.

Protuberances 6 are formed on the back face of member 2. Said protuberances are hollow, and their opposed faces are open: see Figure 3. These protuberances 6 are integral with member 2 and are formed thereon by the mold operating through apertures 7 in member 2. Ribs 8 and 8A are vertically aligned and spaced apart between protuberances 6. These ribs, like said protuberances, are an integral part of member 2. The function of said ribs 8 and 8A will be described hereinafter.

Prop member 9 comprises a channeled length of plastic material having side edges 10 and 11. One end of said prop is divided into two forks 12 and 13, capable of being flexed toward each other. As will be noted particularly from Figure 2, the opposed faces of protuberances 6 are spaced apart from each other a distance approximately equal to the width of the forked end of prop 9. Each side edge 10 and 11 of prop 9, toward the worked end thereof, is provided with a projection. Said projections, 14 and 15, are carried within protuberances 6 (see Figure 3) and serve to provide a pivotal connection between the forked end of prop 9 and member 2. The non-forked end of prop 9 remains free and can be moved to the position shown in either Figure 4 or Figure 5, or to any position intermediate thereof.

Corner edges 16 of forks 1-2 and 13 are beveled to permit extension of prop 9 to position as shown in Figure 4.

Rib 8 is of length slightly longer than the distance between forks 12 and 13, and when the free end ofprop 9 is moved out to position shown in Figure 4, said rib 8 will be wedged between forks 12 and 13 and hold the same spaced apart with projections 14 and 15 inserted in protuberances 6. When the free end of prop 9 is moved to position shown in Figure 5, the beveled corners 16 of forks 12 and 13 will be clear of rib 8 and said two forks may then be pinched together to remove prop '9 from member 2.

Rib 8A is positioned with its plane surface extending horizontally of member 2. The length of this rib is slightly greater than the distance between the inner faces of edges 10 and 11 on prop 9. When prop 9 is moved to position shown in Figure 5, rib 8A will be wedged into the channeled portion of said prop and thus serve to retard movement thereof in any direction. The free end of prep 9 can, however, be easily lifted off rib 8A.

While I prefer that the calendar stand of my invention be made with ribs 8 and 8A formed thereon, the presence of these ribs is not critical to successful operation of the stand, and said ribs may be omitted if that is desired. It will also be apparent that the details of construction, as above described, can be modified without departing from 'the spirit of my invention, and I do not intend to be limited to the mechanical details above set forth, or except as I limit myself in the claim appended hereto.

What I claim is:

A desk calendar stand, including a rigid, planar member and a prop member, said rigid, planar member having a front surface and a back surface, said front surface being adapted to carry a calendar pad, said back surface being provided with a pair of horizontally aligned, spaced apart protuberances, the opposed faces of said protuberances being formed with recesses therein, one end of said prop member being divided into two forks, said forks being flexible toward each other, the outer side edge of one of said forks being provided with a projection, the outer side edge of the other of said forks being provided with a similar, opposed projection, the width of said forked end of said prop member, taken through said projections, being greater than the distance between the opposed faces of said protuberances, said projections being pivotally carried Within the recesses of said protuberances to allow movement of said prop member toward and away from said planar member, the back surface of said planar memher being formed with a rib projecting therefrom, the plane surface of said rib lying horizontally of said planar member, said rib being positioned so as to lie between the inner side edges of said forks when said prop member is in position away from said planar member, the end edges of said rib then butting against the inner side edges of said forks, said rib thereby precluding flexing of said forks toward each other when said prop is in position to hold said planar member in upright position, a corner edge of each of said forks being beveled to provide for clearance of said fork members over said rib when said prop member is moved to position adjacent said planar member, whereby said forks may be flexed toward each other to disengage said projections from said recesses when said prop member lies substantially fiat against said planar member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,595,200 Kenyon Aug. 10, 1926 1,815,436 Harris July 21, 1931 1,820,841 Soref Aug. 5, 1931 1,931,205 Montanye Oct. 17, 1933 

